The foreign exchange market, or forex market, can be a great place to invest your money, but like any market, it has its share of pitfalls. Too many traders jump right in without knowing what they are doing and end up losing their shirt. Before you start trading, read this advice.
Practice trading Forex before opening a real account. The practice account will allow you to do everything, but it will not use real money. This gives you a way to learn the ropes, test strategies and learn how much risk you are comfortable with while trading. Once you have used a practice account for some time, you can open a real Forex account.
Use leverage with caution. Using leverage can lead to large gains if properly applied, however, without careful study and tracking of trends you can leverage yourself into a hole. If you are a less experienced trader do not leverage greater that 10:1. This will allow you to gain without risking large quantities of your capital should the market turn.
Before trading, make sure that your finances are in order and that you can afford to engage in trading currency. You don’t want your finances to be the factor that decides when you have to enter and exit. Without the proper funding behind you, you could really be in a jam if the market takes a terrible turn.
Before trading Forex for the first time make sure you learn how it works. Even if you are an experienced stock trader you need to learn the differences in trading currencies. Currencies are traded all day, every day so currencies rise and fall with world events in real time.
Use money management principles when trading foreign currency on FOREX. By using money management you are increasing the odds – that you will minimize losses on the market – and be successful in the long run, so you can continue making money with trades on the FOREX market for a long time.
Make sure that you familiarize yourself with your forex broker’s trading practices to make sure that he is not doing things that might be considered unscrupulous. You can make a lot of profits while working with the correct broker, but choosing the wrong one can make you lose a lot.
If you choose to allow your forex trading accounts to be managed with a software program or “robot,” do not allow greed to cloud your judgement. It is most likely a mistake to fiddle with the trade settings of the software, especially if you are a novice trader. That software was programmed by someone with a lot more experience than you, and unless you see a serious flaw, it’s better to leave it alone.
Once you’ve learned the basics of trading on the forex market, it can be a great place to invest your money. A little education can go a long way in protecting you from big losses. If you apply the lessons you’ve learned from this article, you’ll be a successful forex trader in no time.